Buner, the district 60 miles north of Islamabad whose fall to the Taliban last month sparked alarmed American warnings about the future of Pakistan, has been substantially wrestled from militant hands and is safe enough for civilians to return, a senior Pakistani commander has claimed.

Brigadier Fiaz Mehmood Qamer, who led a Frontier Corps assault on the area nearly three weeks ago, today urged residents to return home and ease the strain on relief camps where almost one million war displaced have fled.

"Things have gone very well," he said in the ­district capital, Daggar, at a hilltop building that has become his base.

"We have secured about 80% of the area."

But it is the matter of the remaining 20% that worries locals. "Still the situation is not clear. We are not in a position to call our people back," said Amanullah, a trader with 35 relatives sheltering in Mardan, a peaceful district to the south. The cause of his apprehension was located six miles up the valley in Sultanwas, a mountain village where the Taliban was mounting a violent, bloody stand. The brigadier said that up to 200 fighters – a mix of locals, foreigners and migrant combatants from across the tribal belt – were holed up in Sultanwas, with 100 more dug into surrounding mountain slopes. Yahya Akhunzada, the top civilian official in Buner, said militants were "firing on soldiers from every building". The night before, he added, helicopter-borne commandos launched an assault on the village, killing dozens, and the militants retaliated with two suicide attacks.

As he spoke the sound of fresh artillery echoed through the room a fresh bout of fighting erupted.

Officials insisted the fighting was limited to Sultanwas, Pir Bibi and Gokund villages in the northern zone of Buner – a mountainous area that backs onto Swat, the scene of a much bigger anti-Taliban operation for the past 10 days.

In a broad assault that has seen pulverising airstrikes, artillery bombardments and a commando assault on the presumed Taliban headquarters in a remote valley, Swat been largely cut off from the outside world.

The military spokesman said his forces had killed a further 55 militants in the former tourist haven yesterday. The claim, like many before it, could not be verified.Certainly, Buner has seen dramatic changes since late April, when the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton warned that Pakistan posed a "mortal threat" to world security after Taliban fighters swarmed the district 60 miles north of Islamabad, looting aid offices and banks and invading government offices.

Yesterday a permanent curfew was lifted for much of day, allowing traffic to enter Buner through the Ambela Pass, a historic mountain crossing that was the scene of fierce battle only a week ago. Vehicles crawling up the twisting road passed the detritus of war – houses crushed by army shells, carcasses of burned-out vehicles blitzed by helicopter gunships, and petrol stations peppered with bullet holes.

There were also the remains of several large trucks, at least one of which was reportedly carrying fleeing villagers when it was hit. At police headquarters the recently returned chief, Abdul Rashid, said the Taliban were on the run. Fleeing fighters were forcing barbers to trim their long hair and shave their beards, he said.

He listed the factors he said had allowed Buner to fall to the Taliban in the first place – tribal paramilitary soldiers who deserted their posts, underequipped police, and a senior bureaucrat who appeared to harbour sympathies for the Taliban.

Akhunzada, the civilian leader, said people were deterred from returning by a lack of electricity and running water, and appealed for international assistance. "We are fighting this war for the world, and we need its help," he said.